Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE — Guests at the Providence Newspaper Guild’s 35th annual Follies Friday got more celebrity star power than usual out of the night’s much-anticipated mystery guest.

Instead of the local political flavor-of-the-month that tends to grace the stage at the Venus De Milo, the audience got two big surprises.

First there was former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, who worked the room during cocktail hour, greeting guests and posing for photos at the end of a day of campaigning for her mother, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Then when the lights dimmed and the show began, the crowd seemed even more surprised to see Sen. John Kerry and his trademark helmet of hair bound onto the stage.

The Massachusetts Democrat and presidential near-miss cracked wise about Rhode Island politics, Buddy Cianci’s ability “to cross state lines” again, and his own recent trip to Pakistan, noting that instead of being swift boated, politicians there get “swift goated.”

But his well-received shtick turned serious as the topic moved to tomorrow’s presidential primary, and Kerry trotted out what seemed like a stump speech for his preferred candidate, Barack Obama.

Within minutes, Hillary Clinton supporters in the crowd of 1,500 decided Kerry had gone on a little too long, and isolated boos and chants of “HILL-A-RY” started to well up around the room.

Their chorus soon grew loud enough to drown out Kerry and the senator wasted no time thanking the audience and ducking offstage.

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, and his brother, State Democratic Party Chairman William J. Lynch inspired far less controversy as the evening’s secondary mystery guests, despite a little brotherly banter about their own political differences. Patrick supports Obama, while Bill is a Clinton fan.

It should be noted, however, that the attorney general’s spandex Spider-Man costume gets Political Scene’s vote for the night’s best-dressed award.

-- By Cynthia Needham, Katherine Gregg and Mark Arsenault
Journal staff writers

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